An Analysis of Gender Stereotyping in the Case of Karen Vertido

Abstract

This article examines gender stereotyping as a form of structural evil or, in theological language, a form of structural sin. Using the celebrated case of Vertido vs. Custodio, the paper exposes the undercurrents of gender stereotyping. It also provides a cultural analysis of Vertido’s case as it traces the root cause of gender stereotyping. A high-context reading of the events that led to CEDAW to intervene in Vertido’s case enables the author to use feministtheological principles to denounce and dismantle the structures of inequality and hegemony that still permeate the Filipino psyche. References Bourdieu, Pierre. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991 Bourdieu, Pierre. Masculine Domination. Stanford, California: Stanford California Press, 2001. Bigler, R. R., & L. Liben. :Cognitive mechanisms in children’s gender stereotyping: Theoretical and educational implications of a cognitive-based intervention.” Child Development 63 (1992): 1351–1363. Dagmang, Ferdinand D. “Structures and Structural Sin,” Hapág 2/11 (2005): 77-112. Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. Raphael, Melissa. Female Face of God in Auschwitz. New York, Routledge, 2003. Regional Trial Court Davao City, the Philippines, The People of the Philippines v Jose B. Custodio, Criminal Case No 37,921^96, 11 April 2005. Gender Stereotyping in Rape Cases 331. Ruble, D., & Martin, C. Gender development. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology 5th ed., pp. 933–1016, New York: Wiley, 1998. Wandinger, Nikolaus. “Where should one Search for “Original Sin”? Dialogue between Theology, Philosophy, and Science,” http://theol.uibk.ac.at/ leseraum/artikel/342.html.

Keywords

• Structural Sin
• Karen Vertido
• Gender Studies
• Feminism